


Bonding

by GetYourCapeOn



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex kind of hates her, Gen, Kara has no idea how to distinguish between gender roles, Kara just landed on Earth, Kara just wants to fit in, Kryptonite, brief brief mentions of blood, nothing like stabbing your new sister to bond right?, wrote this in like an hour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 07:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16761097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GetYourCapeOn/pseuds/GetYourCapeOn
Summary: After a few weeks on Earth, Kara notices that girls pierce their ears. In an effort to fit in, she gets Alex to do it for her.Alex is more than happy to stab Kara. To help, of course.





	Bonding

Kara had been on Earth for a grand total of six weeks, four days, and nineteen hours before she asked one of the many, many questions that had been churning over and over in the back of her mind. 

“Those things in your ears,” she said as she sat across from Alex, her homework splayed out on her bed. Everything was so  _ hard  _ here. Their history was boring and their language made no logical sense and Kal-El never answered her questions clearly enough and math was just  _ weird  _ and their elements were so far off from Krypton’s that it was like starting over again and their athletics were incredibly difficult because Kara still struggled to do something as simple as walk without feeling like she might kill someone. 

“Earrings,” Alex said shortly. Once they had gone back to school and Kara was  _ embarrassing _ , the novelty of having a new sister had worn off and now Alex wasn’t nearly as excited about Kara being on the same planet as her anymore. 

“Earrings,” Kara repeated. Even after all this time, there were still some English words that she had yet to learn. Jeremiah had made  _ sure  _ to teach Kara the names of all the local fauna (she still had trouble with dogs vs not-dogs. Wolves and coyotes looked like dogs. Foxes looked like dogs. Those things with the circles on their tails looked like dogs, too.) but he hadn’t taught her  _ all  _ the animals yet. Which was why, when one of Alex’s friends had a guinea pig, Kara had been so confused by what it could be that she accidentally called it a dog. 

Yeah, Alex still hadn’t gotten over that one. 

“The girls on this planet…” Kara began a little awkwardly. Gender lines had been a very strange thing when she got here--some things were  _ for girls  _ and some things were  _ for boys  _ and there was a very, very narrow middle ground that Alex seemed to live in sometimes but there were things like pink being  _ for girls  _ but also Alex  _ hating  _ pink but Alex also being a girl. Every time Kara tried to have Alex clarify the boys vs girls situation, it only ended poorly. Which was why Kara was treading extra carefully this time. “Only girls wear earrings,” she said. 

Alex looked over at her, unimpressed. “Pretty much.” 

Okay, Kara had gotten that one right. “Should I…?” she asked hesitantly, tugging at her earlobe. “I know I’m--I’m  _ weird  _ and I don’t fit in but maybe--maybe it would help?” 

The fact that a very slow smile crossed Alex’s face should’ve tipped Kara off that this was maybe a really,  _ really _ bad idea. “It might,” Alex agreed. “But we can’t pierce your ears with anything on this planet.” 

“Yeah…” 

“Although,” and then Alex’s smile turned downright scary. “I know Dad has a piece of kryptonite lying around. Your cousin gave it to him just in case.” 

“Just in case?” Kara echoed, feeling the sharp sting of betrayal. Did Kal-El not trust her? 

“In case you got hurt and we needed to pull something out of you if you impaled yourself or if we needed to take your blood for whatever reason. I don’t know. He keeps it in a box in his lab. My point  _ is  _ that if we had that, I could pierce your ears for you.” 

That perked Kara up. “You would do that?” she asked, barely containing her delight. 

“Yeah, Kara. I’ve seen it done a million times. We make sure everything’s clean, we grab a needle, make a hole, stick the earring through, repeat on the other side. Easy.” 

Easy. 

“Will they let us use the kryptonite?” 

“No, obviously. But we don’t have to tell them. And if they get mad, it’s just a way to help you blend in. Besides, it was  _ your  _ idea.” 

“Okay,” Kara grinned. “We’ll do it.” 

“Mom is working late on Friday and Dad has to run errands so  _ I’m  _ in charge.” 

“Friday,” she confirmed with a serious nod. Maybe this would be the thing that pushed her over the edge into blending in. And, once she fit in, maybe Alex wouldn’t be so mad at her. It was the perfect plan. What could go wrong? 

… 

Honestly, Kara wasn’t sure who was more nervous about this. Alex had gathered the materials the day before (“I’ve seen them do it in movies. It’s in the Parent Trap--Kara, stop looking at me like that, we’ll watch it later!”) and all that was left was the piece of kryptonite that Kara had just taken from Jeremiah’s lab. 

Kara couldn’t  _ feel  _ anything. It was in a special box, she knew that much, but she still expected to feel  _ something  _ when she carried it into the house. Jeremiah had been gone for half an hour at this point and it was now or never. 

“Before we start, heat this up just a  _ little _ ,” Alex instructed as she handed Kara the needle. “You’ll sterilize it that way.” Kara focused very,  _ very  _ hard and managed not to melt the piece of metal. She beamed up at her new sister victoriously and Alex rolled her eyes but Kara could see the smile she was trying to hide. “No chickening out, okay?” 

“Oh! That’s the one about not running away!” Kara enthused. Idioms had also been a weird one for her. Most of them didn’t even make sense but she had learned the more common ones so that she wouldn’t be  _ so  _ obvious. 

“So if I do one ear, I have to do them both. And when we do this, you’re not allowed to change your mind and take them out. I’m risking a lot doing this for you, Kara, and this is your last chance to stop.” 

“I want to do this,” Kara said firmly, her expression serious. 

“Open the box,” Alex instructed. 

Kara hesitated--Kryptonite was supposed to hurt and she was afraid that it might do permanent damage. She carefully opened it and it hit her instantly. 

The headache was dull and instant and, had she not been sitting already, she would have lost her balance. Alex looked at her carefully, making sure that Kara was okay before carefully leaning her back against the pillows they had stacked up on Kara’s bed. “Okay?” Kara nodded, doing her best to look as okay as possible. 

Alex picked up the piece of apple--Kara had no idea why the apple was there--and placed it behind Kara’s ear. “No screaming,” she said firmly. And then the needle went through Kara’s ear. 

It hurt. It hurt  _ so much _ . She didn’t scream but she was pretty close to it. “Okay, one,” Alex said as she pulled the needle free and then she had the earring and it was pressed in and it  _ hurt _ . 

“Alex!” Kara managed. 

“I told you it was going to hurt! Stay still, we’re almost done.” The second time hurt just as much but at least Kara was ready for it. True to her word, Alex was done within a minute. “Keep the kryptonite out for a bit. I don’t want you to heal too fast.” 

Alex pulled away from Kara and studied the piece of apple that she had used. It was stained with Kara’s blood and she looked genuinely surprised. “I never thought I’d see you bleed,” she remarked. “But your blood really does look like ours.” 

Kara reached up and felt a few wet drops of blood clinging to the new earrings. She hadn’t bled since she’d left Krypton and there was something… almost comforting about the fact that she was bleeding. It made her feel real again. It made her feel like she  _ belonged _ here. 

“So, how do they look?” she asked anxiously. 

Alex admired her handiwork for a minute before grabbing the small mirror next to her. “Human.” 

Kara studied the small, gold earrings, fascinated. It did help. Now she was just like all the other girls and she wouldn’t feel like such a freak. Everything was perfect now even though Kara’s ears hurt  _ so much  _ and the kryptonite was still making her head feel foggy and--

“Alexandra! Kara!” 

Both girls jumped, Alex dropping the apple and Kara jolting the kryptonite out of its protective box and onto the floor where it glowed a bright, traitorous green. “What are you two doing?” Eliza’s voice was low and very, very calm. 

“It was my idea!” Kara said immediately. “I told Alex she had to do it or I would--I would do it myself!” 

That was when Eliza took in the bloody apple and the long, bloody needle that Alex was still holding. It seemed like it took Eliza several long, drawn out moments to figure out how she wanted to react to this. “Alexandra, you stuck a  _ needle  _ in Kara’s ear. Using an  _ apple _ .” 

“I’ve seen it done,” Alex replied, standing her ground. 

“I wanted earrings.” Kara, though sitting, stood firm as well. “Earth girls have earrings and I’m--I’m supposed to be just like them. So I needed earrings.” 

A long silence stretched between the three of them before Eliza sighed and walked over to pick up the fallen kryptonite. “Let me guess, you stole the kryptonite out of Jeremiah’s lab?” she asked as she carefully tilted Kara’s chin to inspect Alex’s handiwork. “And Alexandra,  _ you _ watched that Lindsay Lohan movie too many times and thought that this was easy? That you’ve seen an eleven year old do it so clearly you, a mature fifteen year old, could pierce your indestructible, alien sister’s ears with an apple, a needle, and a pair of earrings?” 

“Well, it worked,” Alex pointed out. 

“You could have hurt her,” Eliza said as she let go of Kara’s face with a sigh. 

“Even if I did, she could just put the kryptonite back in the box and she’d be  _ fine _ .” 

“It was my idea,” Kara reiterated. 

“And you’re very lucky that Alexandra has a steady hand because she managed to put them in straight. Kara…” 

“I brought it up. I told Alex that I wanted her to do this. It makes me fit in more! You know I’m  _ really _ bad at fitting in and doing things that are for  _ girls  _ and not for  _ boys _ because your gender rules are so  _ weird  _ and I thought that having earrings would make it easier!” 

Kara’s lower lip quivered dangerously, her voice thick with tears. “I’m really sorry, Eliza. I just wanted to fit in.” 

Alex really,  _ really _ hated Kara in that moment because Eliza’s gaze softened and she brushed back the stray tear that had slipped down Kara’s cheek. Her mom would never let  _ her  _ get away with that. “I understand why you wanted this but it doesn’t make it a good idea. You… you can keep the earrings if your body will let you. But,” she turned to include Alex in this part of the conversation as well, “ _ neither  _ of you can do anything like this again. It was incredibly dangerous to bring this so close to you. I’m going to put it back and, Alex, you’re burning anything you got Kara’s blood on so that there’s no trace left. Kara, clean yourself up and twist the earrings as they heal. Half turns, back and forth, until you can’t feel them anymore.” 

Eliza picked up the lead lined box and headed back to the door. “Oh, and girls?” she called over her shoulder. “You’re both grounded for two weeks. Next time, I won’t be as generous and it’ll be a month. Understand?” 

“Yes, Mom,” Alex grumbled. 

“Sorry, Eliza,” Kara said as she did as she was told and twisted the earrings. 

“So,” Alex said as soon as her mother was out of earshot, “I did your ears. Next time it’s your turn to do something for me. And I’m thinking tattoo.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I might write a sequel about the tattoo


End file.
